1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for analyzing the movement of an individual while participating in a sport or activity that involves the movement of a handled object, tool or instrument. In particular, the present invention relates to a golf swing analysis system that measures the movement of a golfer's swing from address to impact of the golf ball to the follow through and reconstructs and displays various points of view of the swing from the measured movement.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Unfortunately, for both beginners and veterans of the game, it is one of the most difficult games to master. The difficulty of the game is not caused by a need for any particular physical attribute, such as height in basketball, for example. Indeed, many of the top golfers in the world are average in height and weight. The key to the success of top golfers is that they have tremendous hand-to-eye coordination and the innate ability to swing a golf club in a way to maximize the ability to hit the golf ball with both power and accuracy.
Since most golfers are not born with such a talent, the only way to improve their swing is to practice individually or with professional help. The majority of players learn the game from a friend and develop their swing by trial and error on the golf course and at the driving range. However, learning the game in this manner can inhibit how good the player's swing can become. The player needs a way to analyze his or her swing after the swing has been made.
Players who obtain the assistance of a teaching professional often experience disappointment with their failure to improve. Sometimes the student is unable to relate the instructor's comments to the look and "feel" of the actual swing. At other times, the student reverts to their old habits immediately after the lesson as they have not retrained their muscles and have no objective feedback as to when the swing pattern is proper. In this situation, both the student and professional need a system to illustrate and reinforce the concepts being taught.
Some systems have been developed to respond to the needs of both the self-taught player and the professionally taught player. Examples of such systems are: (1) the Sportech Golf Swing Analyzer and WAVI.TM. system both manufactured by Sports Technology, Inc. of Essex, Conn.; (2) BioVision.TM. manufactured by Optimum Human Performance Centers, Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif.; (3) the Pro Grafix System manufactured by GolfTek of Lewiston, Id.; (4) the Swing Motion Trainer manufactured by Sport Sense of Mountain View, Calif.; and (5) U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,410 to Nakayama et al.
In Nakayama et al., a golfer wears a number of reflective tapes at various places on his or her body. While the player swings the club, a TV camera captures the motion of the golfer through the motion of the reflective tape. The image of the motion is digitized and the two-dimensional coordinates of the reflective tapes are calculated. The calculated coordinates are then manipulated in various ways to analyze the golfer's swing. For example, the coordinates can be used to construct a moving stick figure representing the golfer's swing.
Nakayama et al.'s system has several disadvantages. For example, Nakayama et al. is limited by the information it can convey to the user, since only a single view of the swing is generated for viewing.